NSG5002 Advanced Theoretical Perspective for Nursing
Week 1 Knowledge Check
Question 1 Historically, nursing preparation was referred to as “training,” and many nurses educated through the 1970s still use this term to refer to their education. Why is this terminology particularly problematic in light of the advances made in nursing science in the last 30 years?
Question 1 options:
A) On-the-job apprenticeships are no longer as prevalent as they were up through the late 1970s and early 1980s.
B) It places emphasis on nurses’ abilities to perform tasks rather than reason through and understand the purpose of their actions.
C) Most modern nurses pursue Master’s level education beyond their practice-based Bachelor’s education.
D) The last 30 years have seen nursing education move away from physician-taught courses in hospitals to professor-taught courses at universities
Question 2 (1 point)
During the 1960s, why did nursing scholars heavily emphasize a focus on the theoretical development of nursing as its own, independent discipline?
Question 2 options:
A) To support doctoral education for nurses that was discipline specific
B) To prove that the logical positivist approach was a poor fit for the discipline
C) To encourage and enhance the continued development of nursing science
D) To promote research by nurses in all fields, not merely nursing science
Which argument best supports the idea of nursing as a professional discipline rather than an academic discipline?
Question 3 options:
A) “Nursing is an applied science.  Its practice component places an emphasis on the delivery of service by nurses rather than the development of academic knowledge.”
B) “Nursing is a discipline with unique substance. It borrows very little from other disciplines and, as a result, is beyond the realm of most academic programs in the sciences that acknowledge idea sharing across disciplines.”
C) “Nursing is a concept with a lengthy unofficial history. Individuals have been providing nursing care to others since the Crusades, and this professional provision of services predates formal education in the field.”
D) “Nursing is a relative newcomer to advanced education. For many years, nurses were educated or trained only at a Bachelor’s level, and advanced practice therefore has its roots in the profession itself rather than in academia.”
Question 4 (1 point)
Which statement best describes the role that logical positivism plays in modern philosophical thought about nursing science and science in general?
Question 4 options:
A) It remains at the forefront of the understanding of science and dictates the ways in which scientific research is performed.
B) It works in concert with humanistic philosophies of science, with the opposing ideologies functioning as a system of philosophical checks and balances.
C) It no longer holds sway over the sciences, but its influence is so deeply ingrained in the field that it continues to impact modern ideas about science.
D) It has been completely discredited by postmodern philosophers and is regarded as a flawed relic of past scientific thinking.
Question 5 During the 1960s and 1970s, the theory movement in nursing sought to “prove” that nursing was a science by applying strict logical positivist philosophy to the discipline. Why was this application problematic from a philosophical standpoint?
Question 5 options:
A) It placed too great an emphasis on the art of nursing and left itself open to criticism by the postmodern school of philosophy.
B) It ignored the humanistic and social aspects of providing quality care and focused on the hard science involved.
C) It took too long to develop and by the time it came to fruition the logical positivist perspective had fallen out of favor with most scientific disciplines.
D) It was later disproved by feminist philosophers who unequivocally demonstrated that the logical positivist view was heavily biased against women and minorities.